NYSC denies banning of hijabs at orientation camps

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has denied the allegations that scheme had placed a ban on the use of hijab by female Muslim corps members, especially during orientation camps.

Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier-General, Johnson Olawumi, disclosed this at the swearing-in ceremony of the stream II Batch B, 2015 corps members at the Kubwa orientation camp in Abuja.

He stated that NYSC only appealed to corps members not to wear long hijabs due to security implication

The alleged ban had been contested by the various muslim groups and scholars who claimed the ban was against their rights as Nigerians.

He said “There was just a misrepresentation, we (NYSC) can’t for whatever reason ban the use of hijab. I think the misrepresentation has to do with the standard. We didn’t ban the wearing of hijabs by corps members, only appealed to them not to wear the long hijab where you can only see their eyes and to use the shorter one that will at least help us for the purpose of identification, so that other people will not take advantage of it.